This morning, I met with Dr. Kwan, who is actually a neuroradiologist, rather than a neurologist which I have been my mistakingly calling him. He’s a specialist basically, who does coiling.
He had seen my shots from the MRI and MRA from last Tuesday and said things looked very good. I wasn’t even able to find the aneurysm on the MRA images because it had clotted so well, but I sure could on the one MRA image he showed me from the day it happened! WOW! I had no idea it was that large. Very scary especially when I saw how close it was to my left eye and he made a size correction that it was a 11 mm annie, rather than 10 mm. That’s almost a half an inch.
Again, it was located in my left internal carotid artery behind my left eye.
He showed me images taken throughout the surgery where each coil was inserted. Really fascinating stuff. Dr. Kwan was also able to squelch any fears I may have had by answering a lot of questions I’m sure he didn’t have the time to answer, but I’m grateful he at least made the effort.
One of the main questions I had, was how did he get to the LEFT side of my brain from the RIGHT side of my groin.mDr. Kwan begrudgingly drew a diagram…but I found this one as well. Makes sense.
He said the headaches I’m experiencing were still probably being caused by blood reabsorbing into my system and it could go on for months until it completely lets up.
Dr. Kwan said that only something more catastrophic happening would be a signal of a problem with the coiling. So, when I sneeze and it hurts…don’t worry! It may happen for some time yet.
He said to use common sense with getting back into things like housework, driving and work. I need to pace myself and ease my way into it. He said it’s not uncommon for most people to be off work for three months. I’m hoping to get back to work, at least part time from home soon. We’ll see.
Keeping my blood pressure normal is also important as the higher it gets the more the blood is pumped through those
arteries and can cause stress.
Dr. Kwan did NOT recommended any serious neck manipulation, so I’m not sure how that will come in to play with the OMT therapy I’ve been having monthly.
He DID say a beer or glass of wine now and then won’t hurt me, nor will a cup of strong tea or a pot of tea…so that’s good! And he said getting a massage would be good, but with not a lot of neck manipulation.
Overall, I was very pleased with the visit. I still have concerns with other parts of my head, like sinus and migraines, but he basically directed me to go to a neurologist, which I think I will with the help of my regular PCP.
Heidi's Brain Blog 